Table Of Content

2007 Annual Report Fiscal Year Contents Director’s Message 2 Service to Congress 4 Legislative Support 8 Management Initiatives 38 Appendixes 46 FY2007 Budget, Resources, and Other Funding 47 Human Resources and Staff Development 48 Types of CRS Support to Congress: Research Services and Products 52 CRS Organizational Structure 58 Modified Annual Report of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress for Fiscal Year 2007 to the Joint Committee on the Library, United States Congress, pursuant to Section 321, Public Law 91-510 Congressional Research Service 2007 Annual Report Fiscal Year Director’s Message The Congressional Research Service continues a long and unique tradition of providing confidential, authoritative, and objective analyses to Congress to support its deliberations and legislative decisions. This report highlights our policy assistance and describes management initiatives undertaken 2 to ensure that we continue to offer Congress the highest quality of service. In fiscal year 2007 Congress faced numerous complex and contentious policy issues, including Iraq, terrorism, national security, immigration, children’s health insurance, energy security, and veterans’ benefits. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) began working on these and other issues before the start of the 110th Congress. Our research agenda covering about 150 issues ensured that Congress Congressional Research Service had ready access to comprehensive To reinforce that access and provide and multidisciplinary research and Congress with around-the-clock access analysis spanning and integrating broad to our written products, we took steps to program areas such as foreign relations, improve the usability of our website and government and the economy, industry its search system. We also implemented a and the environment, domestic social comprehensive review of our written work policy, and law and justice. Throughout the and continued our development of a new fiscal year, CRS experts worked alongside format for research products that will better 3 congressional committees and Members at support PDF and HTML distribution. every stage of the legislative process, from At CRS we consider it a privilege and a identifying a given problem, to assessing calling to work for the U.S. Congress. With potential impacts, to monitoring program great dedication, our staff contributes implementation and oversight. On multiple substantively and daily to the United States occasions, our analysts provided expert Congress. Our fiscal 2007 accomplishments testimony in congressional hearings on key reflect our dedication. policy problems. Ensuring that the Congress had ready access to CRS expertise remained an important priority for the organization. Daniel P. Mulhollan Annual Report Fiscal Year 2007 Service to Congress Congress created the Congressional Research Service in 1970 and endowed it with a unique mandate: the CRS mission is to inform Congress by providing analysis in support of the legislative and 4 oversight work of Congress at every stage of the legislative process. Congressional Research Service Support for Congress in fiscal year 2007 emphasized organizations, and individual scholars. Support for the importance of upholding the values embedded in In 1970 Congress enacted the Legislative Congress in the CRS mission—objectivity and nonpartisanship, Reorganization Act, which changed the name of fiscal year 2007 authoritativeness, and confidentiality—in services the support unit from Legislative Reference Service emphasized ranging from products accessed through the CRS to the Congressional Research Service, increased the importance Website, in-person briefings, telephone consultations, its resources, and directed the Service to devote of upholding confidential memoranda to delivery of expert testi- more of its efforts to doing research and analysis the values mony, legal analyses, assistance with hearings and to assist Members of Congress in direct support of embedded in the investigations, evaluation of data, and examination the legislative process. With this legislation, a new CRS mission— of legislative options and proposed programmatic category of service was requested to be performed objectivity and changes. by CRS—assisting committees with the research and nonpartisanship, other assistance they needed. Today CRS provides authoritativeness, The CRS Tradition a full range of research and information services to and both Members and committees of Congress. confidentiality. The assistance CRS provided to Congress in FY2007 5 reflects the unique, supportive CRS mission that CRS Core Values has remained unchanged since its inception. The supportive role began in 1914 when Senator Robert La As Members adjusted to policymaking challenges of Follette and Representative John M. Nelson, both of the 110th Congress and CRS realigned its services to Wisconsin, promoted the establishment of a special meet those challenges, the Service’s commitment reference unit in the Library of Congress whose sole to the core values inherent in its mission remained purpose was to respond to congressional requests constant and unchanged—objectivity, nonpartisan- for information. Creation of this unit reflected ship, authoritativeness, and confidentiality. These progressive era ideas about the importance of acquir- core values set the standards for all CRS service to ing knowledge for an informed and independent Congress. legislature. With enactment of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the Legislative Reference ■■ ObJeCTIvITY ANd NONpARTISANShIp Service was given permanent authorization to assist CRS objectivity and nonpartisanship have been Congress, primarily by providing facts and publica- hallmarks of the Service since its founding. Service tions and by transmitting research and analysis staff continues to examine the entire range of public Annual Report done largely by other government agencies, private policy issues so as to ensure that the research of Fiscal Year 2007 At the alternatives is complete and that analysis is balanced issues, and they can do so without question, chal- beginning of and uncompromised. CRS works one-on-one with lenge, or disclosure. each session Members and committees to address specific ques- CRS understands that its research and analysis of Congress, tions as they arise. Those congressional clients who must be objective, authoritative, confidential, and CRS experts choose to reference or distribute CRS work can do so above reproach if it is to continue to serve as the assess public with the confidence and knowledge that each prod- foundation upon which Congress engages in debate. policy issues uct or service provided is objective, fair, and without that likely will bias or unexamined assumptions. Research Management at CRS come before Congress in ■■ AuThORITATIveNeSS At the beginning of each session of Congress, CRS order to create Another core value is authoritativeness. To achieve experts assess public policy issues that likely will and maintain authoritativeness CRS engages in rigorous research come before Congress in order to create and maintain a robust and methodologies that are checked for appropriateness a robust and evolving research agenda. The Service evolving and applicability, data that are free from anomalies continues to work with Congress throughout the year 6 research and are thoroughly checked for accuracy, and experts as Members identify and explore policy problems, agenda. who maintain the highest standards when conduct- examine policy options, monitor and assess program ing analyses for Congress. because accuracy and implementation, and conduct oversight. completeness are critical, CRS experts use primary CRS uses an integrative, collaborative approach to resources whenever available, double- or triple-check research in responding to congressional requests for statements of fact, ensure that sources are duly assistance. The Service relies on its research manag- documented and qualified, and subject each product ers to align the work of CRS staff members, with their to multiple levels of review. considerable competencies, skills, and experiences, to the policy questions brought by Congress. CRS is ■■ CONFIdeNTIALITY a research community in which every member has a Confidentiality is one of the Service’s highest priori- professionally oriented interest in issues or concerns ties and is embedded in CRS culture and practices. identified by Congress, and each staff person in the The policy of confidentiality is applied internally Service works in the context in which Congress is to items prepared for a Member or committee operating. and externally against demands from the outside. Many issues on the congressional agenda are Members know that they can come to CRS to explore interconnected with, for example, environmental, Congressional Research Service global, economic, social, and legal impacts. The Throughout its years of service, CRS has been There is simply Service’s Current Legislative Issue format is continu- the primary source of independent expertise for no other ously evolving to reflect the range of policy issues Congress. CRS strives to combine flexibility and inno- organization with before Congress and to display products that flesh vation in response to changes in the congressional the reputation out the various components of the issues. Research environment, develop ways to work more efficiently and the credibility management at CRS is structured to ensure that the and effectively within budgetary constraints, and of CRS. The work work of the Service is well focused, well designed provide quality expertise to Congress as it considers provided by CRS to cover all facets of a policy problem, and well increasingly complex and often contentious legisla- is always first executed. Analysis is structured to ensure that data tive policy issues. rate, oftentimes are sound, that assumptions and qualifications have quantitative been clearly identified, and that findings inform Outline of the Report and impeccably the legislative issue at hand, with implications and nonpartisan. options set out systematically and lucidly. This rigor- The remainder of this report describes highlights of —Senator ous research management is essential to delivering CRS legislative research on key policy issues before Chuck Grassley responses to Congress that are highly relevant and Congress and management initiatives launched in 7 comprehensive. FY2007. Included also are budget components, descrip- Congress relies on CRS for its capacity to integrate tions of human resources and staff development, the insights of various disciplines into a coherent descriptions of types of support provided, summaries whole. Given the challenges that lawmakers face of the Service’s organizational structure, and a list of daily and the increasingly complex nature of prob- CRS products prepared during the fiscal year. lems before the nation, CRS continues to build and maintain this research management function that is integral to the execution of its mission. Annual Report Fiscal Year 2007 Legislative Support Throughout FY2007 Congress requested assistance from CRS as it addressed numerous public policy issues, including the evolving situation in Iraq, terrorism and national security, immigration, 8 children’s health insurance, subprime lending and the credit crisis, energy security, and veterans benefits. Highlights of CRS legislative assistance are as follows. Congressional Research Service